Club Ice Hockey

Ice Hockey Drops Quarterfinal Thriller in Triple Overtime

Feb 26, 2019

Montclair, NJ- It took triple overtime to take down SHU Ice Hockey in their conference tournament quarterfinal matchup against rival Marist College. SHU left the rink suffering a heartbreaking 5-4 loss after 90 minutes of ice time. With the loss, the 2018-2019 season comes to a close for the Pioneers.

SHU got off to a slow start in the first period, giving up 3 unanswered goals going into the first intermission. The Pioneers were able to turn it around in the second, showing improvement on defense before sophomore Ryan Gawricki found the back of the net for the team’s first goal of the game. This proved to be the spark the team needed, as they spent the rest of the period in the Marist zone. Sophomore Mike Zdanowicz sniped a shot from the left side of the net to put the Pioneers within one after two periods. Heading into the third, SHU was looking to pull ahead and advance to the semifinal. After a hard fought first few minutes, junior Andrew Demmings tied the game to solidify the momentum in SHU’s direction. Drew Homola continued his excellent late season play, scoring a goal in his fourth consecutive game to give the Pioneers the lead with under 5 minutes remaining. SHU took a penalty with just over 2 minutes remaining in the game and Marist tied it on the power play to send the game to overtime. With a spot in the semifinals at stake, a winner needed to be determine before the end of the night. After a scoreless first overtime period, the game became 4 on 4 for the second. Senior goaltender Brandon Rozzi continue his exceptional play in net and sent the game to a third overtime. At 3 on 3, senior captain Jack Pardue lead a strong first shift, peppering the Marist goaltender with shots. On the Pioneers second shift of the game, Marist was able to force a turnover in the SHU zone and trickle a shot past Rozzi to win the game.

SHU finishes the season with a record of 8-13-3, including a 5-8-1 conference record. The Pioneers were ranked #20 in the Northeast by the ACHA in their final rankings of the season.